Rock, Rum and the OC Roller Girls

​Some say the sport of roller derby is experiencing a resurgence--but it probably never really went away. Though its 1970s heyday has long since passed, the commitment to the sport demonstrated by the girls who don old-timey skates, fishnets and knee pads is impressive.
Saturday night at the Anaheim Convention Center witnessed Orange Whip face off against the Traffic Jammers in a four quarter "bout," featuring more than a few major spills and insanely competitive behavior.

This sport features tons of women of all shapes and sizes going wheel-to-wheel with each other. Specific instances of this included Orange Whip's Char Mean and Darla Deville doing their damnedest to muscle and finesse their way past the Traffic Jammers' Dirty Deborah Harry on the banked track, a woman loath to give up any inch of floor space.

The whole experience was sweetened by the ska stylings of Pico Rivera cover band Dub 8, who offered up lively renditions of Madness, Sublime and Bob Marley songs. Add beer from concession stands and a Sailor Jerry tent manned by a smoking-hot shot girl and it was a pretty good Saturday night. Oddly enough, there's a family atmosphere to these events with parents of skaters wearing T-shirts emblazoned with their daughters' names.

The main bout was preceded by an event featuring junior skaters as young as eight. The final score for the main bout was Orange Whip 123 and Traffic Jammers 113.

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Absolutely Awesome... But Dub 8 sucked... Too loud and distorted... Many older parents were complaining on the walk to the parking structure. Maybe just stick with the DJ... But again, the women kicked ASS.....

there may have been some sound issues with Dub 8 but in their defense, the band was unaware they would be performing in the arena and adequate sound equipment was not provided. You have to give Dub 8 another chance; they are all superior musicians and play with a ton of heart are way more than a cover band. The original tracks keep you movin', groovin' and smilin' . . . and the whole point is to have FUN! I know the members of the band were so very grateful for the opportunity to perform for the teams and the fans. The OCRG is soooooo much fun and Dub 8-er's are new fans of the sport. We had so much fun on Saturday that we started coming up with our own roller derby nicknames for the next time.